


To The Dreamers

by abbyli



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: F/M, Modern AU, Single Dad!Jon, Slow ass burn, Teacher!Sansa, doctor!Jon, past Jon/Val
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-15
Updated: 2019-05-21
Packaged: 2019-08-24 03:45:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,273
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16632293
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/abbyli/pseuds/abbyli
Summary: Sansa never thought she'd see Jon Snow again after his father had taken him away when they were children. And then one icy winter evening, many years later, Dr. Jon Snow is saving her mother's life in the ER.





	1. It was a dark and stormy night...

 

.

.

.

_WHAM!_

Sansa isn’t really sure what had just happened until her mother turns to her, asking if she is okay.

She blinks several times, her vision a blurry mess for a few moments. They’re in her mother’s Lincoln, which is now lodged against the back of a Ford pick up truck. The windshield is shattering in front of them into an almost beautiful spiderweb, steam rising from the front of the car.

“Sansa, answer me!”

When she looks at her mother, she sees blood trickling from a cut on her forehead and a slightly dazed, albeit panicked expression in her eyes. “Uh-uh-uh...” Sansa’s voice comes out in a stammer. She must be in shock.  

A rapping sound on her window makes her jump and she has to blink several more times to be able to see the man standing there. “Lady, you all right?!”

When she opens her mouth to respond, nothing comes out but a croak. Catelyn Stark is leaning towards her and her vision blurs again, only darkness following this time.

-;

“Jon, we’ve got an MVA pulling up.”

Jon looked up from his phone, quickly tapping out an answer to the text message Davos had sent him moments ago before replacing it into the pocket of his scrubs. He follows Gilly from the break room, looping his stethoscope more securely around his neck. “How bad?”

“Not too bad. Drunk driver plowed into a parked SUV, moving the car forward right into the back of the truck parked in front of them.”

Jon whistles through his teeth. “Whoa, I thought you said it wasn’t too bad.”

“Well the drunk driver wasn't hurt, as usual. He’s in jail as we speak. And the two victims are a mother and daughter. The mother is awake and reactive and pissed off and the daughter fainted from shock.”

Jon chuckled. “Should be easy.”

When they get to the waiting area, the double doors to the ambulance bay are clacking open. Two gurneys come through, one right after the other. The first one carries an older woman in her fifties, a bright white bandage plastered to her forehead. She shifts in her seat, “ _This really isn’t necessary –“_

The paramedic smiles. “Ma’am, it’s just precaution. You got a pretty serious bump on the head there.”

“Get her into Trauma One,” Jon says, stepping forward. “And –“ His voice staggers to a stop when his eyes register just who is in front of him. “Um –“

“Jon?” Gilly’s still beside him, watching him worriedly.

Catelyn Stark is looking back at him, eyes narrowed like she is trying to place his face, and that’s probably exactly what she is doing. “J-Jon?”

“Get Mrs. Stark into Trauma Two,” Jon finishes, his voice dripping with ice. “Gilly, can you do the work up? I’ll be right in.”

“Yes doctor.”

Catelyn is still watching him as the medics wheel her down the hall. Jon looks away and ducks into the first trauma room. He stops for a second as another nurse comes up to glove him, eyes tracing the young woman laying on the gurney, still out like a light. “No head injury, right?”

“Right. She passed out from the shock,” someone answers. “Blood pressure is a little high, 140 over 80.”

Jon steps over to the side of the gurney. The first thing he notices is her long red hair is now blond, a few brown streaks ran through it. Large hoop earrings that she wouldn’t have been caught dead in when they were children rest in her ears and as the nurse Karsi gently works off her jacket, there are words painted on her collar bone.

Sansa Stark has sure changed from the perfect child he remembers.

She wakes up as the x-rays are finishing up. “Wha...”

“She’s waking up, doc.”

Jon leans over, waiting as her vision focuses and her eyes fall on him. “Holy shit.”

He laughs. “You could say that again.”

Sansa groans, rubbing a hand over her forehead. “Oh god I fainted, didn’t I?”

At his elbow, Karsi chuckles. “From shock, honey. Perfectly normal.”

“How much do you remember?” Jon asks her.

Her brow furrowed, Sansa answers, “We were parked and this asshole in a fucking bus rams right into us and we ended up practically sitting in the front seat of truck parked in front of my car. Did that jerk get arrested I hope?”

Jon nods. “Yeah, he wasn’t hurt so they took him off.”

“Good.” Sansa looks around. “Where’s my mom? Is she all right?”

As soon as the words leave her mouth, Gilly slams through the adjoining doors to the next trauma room. “Jon! She’s crashing!”

All things forgotten, Sansa’s alarmed cry ringing in his ears, Jon quickly follows Gilly.

-;

“Sansa, you need to lay back!”

She struggles at the medical team’s hands, trying to get up and get off of the gurney but she keeps getting pushed back. “No! Let me see!” Panic rises in her chest and she tries to suck in air to no avail. “It’s my _mom!_ Let me see! I won’t go in, I swear.”

Karsi keeps a firm grip on her elbow but the others let go. She helps her over to the window, and what she sees makes her knees tremble. Nurses and Jon are moving around her mother’s still form – why is she so still? A rapid beeping greets her ears, so loud she wants to cover them up.

“What are they doing?” Tears slide down her cheeks and she doesn’t bother to wipe them away. “What are they doing to my mom?”

Karsi takes in a breath. “It looks like a pneumothorax.”

“What is that?”

“It’s a collapsed lung.”

The sight of blood doesn’t normally bother her. When her brother Bran broke both of his legs falling out of the tree, it had been a terrible mess and it didn’t bother her at all but now, _now_ – she has to look away. “Tell me what’s happening.”

Karsi’s voice is so soft that she has to strain to hear over the sounds of Jon’s booming voice barking orders at his team and that horrible beeping sound. “...they’re doing a chest tube, to reinflate your mom’s lung.” Karsi says a few other medical terms that Sansa doesn’t understand, followed by, “...there we go.”

The beeping stops.

Sansa turns around to see Jon still bent over her mother, the nurse called Gilly handing him instruments. Another nurse takes vitals and the horrific beeping has calmed _._

“You got it. Good job, doctor.”

Sansa hears that clear as a bell.

Jon’s hands are moving like the beat of a bird’s wings, with ease and grace that she remembers from when they were children. His fingers sew up the hole on her mother’s side with quickness that her eyes can barely follow before taking her vitals again himself. “Good breath sounds. Get her up to OR.”

“Yes doctor.”

When Jon turns, he catches her watching him through the window. “She’s fine.” Karsi’s tugging on Sansa’s arm, pulling her back to the bed. “Your mother’s going to be fine.” At that moment, Jon comes back through the doors and picks up her chart.

“A c-collapsed lung?”

Jon nods. “Once you are discharged, you can go right up and see her, all right?” He scribbles something down on her chart and passes it to Karsi. “Finish her work up and get her her aftercare and then she’s free to go.”

Karsi nods and Jon’s gone, disappearing through the doors and back into the hustle and bustle of the busy emergency room. Sansa leaned back into the pillows, letting out a long sigh. Karsi gives her a smile and begins hammering off after care instructions for her bump on the head and asking whether she has family she can call.

“Um, yeah, my brother lives near here, he can come and pick me up.”

“All righty.” Karsi says a few more things that Sansa doesn’t really listen too before telling her she could rest out in the waiting room until she was ready to go up and see her mother.

Once the nurse was gone, Sansa rose slowly from the gurney and walked through the double doors. Someone’s directing her to the waiting area but she lightly pushes them away, making for the receptionist’s desk. Once she finds out what floor her mother is on, only then does she manage to locate her phone, still jammed in her back pocket.

There’s so much to think about and she can barely do that. Her fingers manage to tap out a message to Bran, stuffing it back into her pocket before she drops it. Elevator doors are opening in front of her and oh gosh, the lift is blissfully empty. She lays her thumb on the right floor number, almost a little too hard because pain begins to shoot up her hand but she doesn’t want anyone else jumping on this elevator with her. The doors close and the lift begins to rise.

-;

_“Are you sure you’re all right?”_

Sansa nods into the phone. “Yeah I’m fine. We’re fine.”

_“I’ll be there soon. Kiss Mom for me.”_

“I will. Thanks Bran.”

She hangs it up, coming to a stop outside her mother’s room and peeking through the tiny window on the door. Her mother sleeps peacefully in the large bed, a white bandage on her forehead covering up the large gash. Taking a deep breath, Sansa pushes the door open and pads in, lowering herself down into the uncomfortable rickety chair beside the bed.

She must have fallen asleep because the next thing she knows, she’s slumped over the side of the bed with her head in her hands. She feels her mother’s fingertips gently stroking the top of her head and sits up a little too fast. “M-Mom?”

Catelyn weakly smiles at her and Sansa almost laughs out loud. “Quite a weekend, huh?”

Hot tears spring to her eyes and Sansa nods. “Quite a weekend.”

“Are you all right?”

“Yeah, yeah I’m fine. Had a minor concussion and some cuts and bruises,” Sansa reaches for Catelyn’s hand. “How are you feeling?”

“Oh, I’m –“ Catelyn sucks in a breath. “F-f-fine.” She looks back at Sansa. “What exactly happened to me? The last thing I remember is being checked out by the nurse and then it’s a fuzzy blur.”

“Your lung collapsed, Mom.”

Catelyn blinks several times at the bluntness in Sansa’s voice. “Oh... _Oh.”_

“Jon saved your life.”

“Jo- _Jon._ Jon Snow?” Catelyn let out a breath. “So that wasn’t a dream.”

The corner of Sansa’s mouth turned up. “Nope it wasn’t.”

“He’s done well for himself,” Catelyn muses. “I am impressed.” Sansa holds back a scoff. “You must thank him for me.”

“You could thank him yourself.”

“No, no, I couldn’t do that. I mean –“ Red tinges Catelyn’s cheeks. “You know.”

Sansa rolls her eyes, opening her mouth to protest and then the door opens to reveal a nurse and her snow covered brother. “Bran!”

The nurse moves out of the way and Bran rolls his chair in, over to their mother’s side. “Hi Mom, are you okay?”

“I will be, love,” Catelyn smiles. “Nothing a couple of days rest won’t fix up.”

“Well actually Mrs. Stark, you’re going to be in here for about a week,” the nurse suddenly says. “ _And_ you’re gonna be off your feet at home for a while too. You had a pretty serious injury. You need to take it easy.”

“A _week?”_ Sansa has to hide a smile at the whine in her mother’s voice. “I couldn’t possibly have to be in here for a whole week. I have many things to do. I have a teenage son at home that will burn the house down if I am not there. I –“

Sansa tiptoes out of the room then, grabbling at her phone so she can call Robb and Arya.

Robb is understandably a little mad she didn’t call him sooner, hanging up with an ‘I love you’ and a promise to call Arya and Rickon. Rickon was staying with Arya and her boyfriend Gendry for the weekend while their mother had been visiting her.

She hangs up the phone without telling Robb about Jon.

-;

Jon feels like he could sleep for a week when he stumbles through his front door. The house is darkened with just a twinge of light coming from the kitchen. With a second glance, he can make out the dozing form of his friend Davos on his sofa.

“Davos? Davos, wake up.”

Davos comes too with a grunt, his glasses sliding right off his nose and onto his front. “What’s, what – oh, it’s you.”

Jon smiles, plucking the glasses up and passing them back before they hit the floor. Davos leans over and flicks on the lamp beside the sofa, casting a soft golden hue across the large braided rug under their feet. “Good evening to you too.”

Davos rubs his hands over his face. “When did you get home?”

“Just now,” Jon sheds off his jacket, hanging it up by the front door. “Did Melina make you play cops and robbers again?”

Davos chuckles. “Yeah she did. I think that’s why I ended up passing out here. What time is it?”

“Nearly twelve. Is she asleep?”

“Yeah,” Davos gets to his feet. “Where are my shoes? Oh here they are. How was the hospital?” When Jon doesn’t answer, he looks up. “Jon?”

Jon pulls himself away from staring out the living room window. The moon is high in the sky and he can see frost already building up on the panes of glass. The night is going to be cold.

“You look like you’ve seen a ghost, boy.”

Jon nods at nothing in particular. “I think I have.”

-;

Melina is hanging half off the bed, dead to the world when Jon tiptoes into her bedroom. Jon gently lifts her arm and leg back up and tucks them back under the covers, leaning down to press a light kiss to her forehead. Their malamute Ghost lifts his head in interest and Jon strokes his ears. “Hey Ghost, keeping our girl safe?”

Ghost huffs and practically rolls his eyes before resting his head back on his paws. Jon gives him a few pats before looking back down at Melina, and to his surprise, his daughter is looking back. “Hi Daddy.”

Jon slides down to his knees. “Hey love. What are you doing awake?”

“You woke me up,” Melina states and Jon smirks.

“Sorry about that.”

Melina sits up a bit on her pillows, pulling her feet out from underneath Ghost’s. “Did you just get home?”

“Mmhmm. About ten minutes ago. What did you do to Davos?”

Melina pulls on a look of mock outrage. “I did nothing! He cheats at cops and robbers!”

_“I do not!”_

Melina burst out laughing as Jon swivels around on his heels. “Good night Davos!” Jon waits until the sound of Davos’ heavy footsteps disappears down the stairs, turning back to look at his bleary eyed daughter. “Come on, let’s get you settled back down.”

She shifts under the blankets as Jon readjusts them up to her neck. “Daddy, I’m not a burrito.”

Jon snorts. “Sorry.” He pulls the covers back down a bit so his child can breathe. “There, that better?”

“Yes.” Melina’s eyes narrow. “Daddy, are you okay? You look kind of funny.”

“I _do?”_ Jon raises both brows. “How funny do I look?”

Melina giggles, gently touching his chin. “You have something in your beard and your hair is really messy.” She yawns. “Tell me about your day. Any weirdo people?”

Jon launches into a story about a man who had come in, dressed as a clown and complaining that his feet were stuck inside his giant shoes. Melina is asleep again less than a minute later. Jon gets to his feet, kissing her forehead again and readjusting the blankets before giving Ghost another pat.

“Thanks boy.”

Ghost sniffs, his eyes fluttering open for a second and he too sleeps on with a snore.

A framed picture on his daughter’s dresser catches his eye as he goes to leave. His gaze rests on the smiling faces in the photograph, his chest tightening almost painfully.

Melina looked so like her mother. Except her eyes. Everyone always told them she had inherited the Snow eyes. Those eyes she used to get her way so many times in her six years of life.

The Val in the photograph was happy, arms wrapped around Melina’s middle as the mother and daughter cuddled and laughed for the camera. She always tried to be happy, and found special enjoyment in driving him crazy, and he never admitted how much he loved it too.

His chest tightens again, the pain in his heart so piercing it feels like he has a thousand daggers slowly sliding in, one at a time. He wonders if the pain will ever go away. Davos said that it usually doesn’t, that you just make room for it. He hated the thought of that, the thought of always hurting, always grieving, always mourning. It seemed that that was his life now.

He thinks about Sansa. He hadn’t seen her since they were children, since that day his father had come to collect him and cart him off to boarding school. He remembers the relief on Mrs. Stark’s face, the woman had disliked him from the moment he had been caught smoking when he was twelve years old. He didn’t really blame her, he hadn’t been the most appropriate person to be around her perfect children but her husband had made a promise to his mother.

Lyanna Snow had been a childhood friend of Ned Stark’s and they had stayed close all the way into adulthood. Ned had promised his mother to look out for Jon if anything ever happened to her and after her death from cancer, he tried so hard to keep that promise.

Jon had loved the Stark kids. He had been especially close to the eldest son Robb and the precocious Arya, who had followed them around like a puppy dog. Their mother was always afraid he was going to get Robb in trouble and well, her fears were not unmerited. Losing his mother had opened up a hole inside of him that wasn’t filled until Melina had been born, only to be ripped apart again just three months prior that horrible rainy night.

He casts one last look at his peaceful daughter, finally leaving the room with a tired sigh. He needs sleep, maybe three weeks worth before everything can make sense again.

.

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	2. Past, present...and what else?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello folks! Thank you so much for the wonderful feedback! Please do keep it coming!

 

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Lady pounces on her as soon as Sansa walks through the door.

“Shit. Shit, shit, shit.” Sansa drops her bag on the side table and turns painfully on her heel. “Come on, girl.”

Lady yaps gratefully and trots over to the door, sitting down and waiting patiently as Sansa attempts to get her shaky fingers to slide the leash from the hook beside the door. Once she manages to get it clasped to Lady’s collar, her pup gives a tug and off they go back out the door and into the chilly early morning light.

To her relief, Lady is just interested in emptying her bladder and then immediately going back inside. The air is frigid and Sansa feels her lips quivering as she struggles to breathe. The border collie impatiently tugs on her leash, leading her back inside the house. Sansa’s teeth are chattering as she practically slams the front door shut and locks it. Lady barks out a warning and Sansa rolls her eyes. “All right, girl, let’s get you breakfast.”

A few minutes later, Lady is happily scarfing down kibble and sliced leftover chicken while Sansa sinks down on the sofa and haphazardly searches for the remote. She’s so tired but she’s also afraid to go to sleep. She knows how much pain she’s going to be in when she wakes up.

Sleep wins once the remote is found. An old movie plays on the television and Sansa struggles to keep her eyes open. _Coffee._ She needs to get up and make a huge pot of coffee. The coffee loses to the struggle of sleep and it could be a lifetime later when she wakes up to a very heavy weight on her chest and her discarded phone going off on the coffee table.

“Lady, gerroff me!”

The dog groans but slides off of her, padding into the kitchen. Sansa rises slowly and the pain immediately sets in, lacing her shoulders and sliding down her spine. She groans, reaching for her phone and missing by a mile, nearly falling face first onto the coffee table. The phone stops ringing a second later and Sansa falls back onto the cushions, still groaning. She manages to peel her eyes open and searches for the clock on the mantle, managing to make out that it’s nearly seven in the evening. She had been asleep for nine hours.

Lady barks from the kitchen. Sansa slowly pushes herself up from the sofa and looks around. Her living room is cloaked in darkness, her television having gone off on its own. When she flips on the light in the kitchen, she has to close her eyes against the bright glare. After digging around in the fridge to find the last of the orange juice, she grabs her coat and limps to the door, waving at Lady to follow her.

After getting Lady outside again and feeding her a snack, Sansa staggers to her bathroom and strips off her smelly clothes, letting them fall to the floor in a path behind her. The doorbell rings just as she turns on the hot water in the shower and Sansa groans – she’s getting good at this – and steps under the hot spray. Whoever it is will go away.

Lady’s barking increases as Sansa watches the dried blood flake off her skin and make a rusty puddle at her feet before being swept down the drain. She doesn’t notice the bathroom door being opened.

_“Margaery Tyrell!”_

Her best friend doesn’t even blink. “Good, you’re alive. Don’t do that again!” She turns on her heel and flounces out of the bathroom.

Sansa turns off the hot water and grabs a towel from the rack by the sink, wrapping it around her before stumbling from the bathroom. Margaery’s in her kitchen, cooing over Lady as the tea kettle pipes out a jolly little tune on the stove. “Who’s a good girl? Who’s a good girl?!”

“You keep doing that she will pee on you.”

Margaery laughs, giving Lady one final scratch on the tummy before getting to her feet. “Tea?”

“Uh...sure?” Sansa glances over her shoulder as she pads from the kitchen to her bedroom, finding sweatpants and her old Wolves sweatshirt. She pulls her sopping hair up in a half bun and walks back out to the kitchen where Margaery had just put a steaming mug of lavender tea on the table. “What are you doing here, Marg?”

“You haven’t picked up your phone in two days,” her friend states plainly. “That’s not like you.”

Sansa feels a shot of guilt in her chest. “Oh well I have a good reason –“

“And then your brother called me and told me you and your mom were in a car accident.”

_“Oh.”_

The brunette points to the living room. “Couch. Now. And tell me everything.”

Sansa does as she’s told. Margaery carries the mugs and follows her out, grabbing Lady’s snuggie blanket from the chair and dropping it over Sansa’s knees. Sansa mumbles a thank you when she presses the mug into her hands and slowly recounts the events of the last forty eight hours. Margaery’s jaw gets closer and closer to the ground as she goes through the details, interrupting here and there.

“They got the asshole that hit you guys, right?”

Sansa nods. “Yeah.”

“And your _mom..._ oh Sansa.”

“I’m fine! I’m just banged up and my mom’s going to be fine too. It was really scary there for a while though, but Jon –“

“Jon? Jon who?”

“Uh...” Sansa considers making up an excuse but Margaery’s got that eagle look in her eyes. “Jon Snow. My siblings and I knew him when we were kids. His mom was best friends with our dad and after she passed away, he came to live with us for a little while.”

“A little while?” Margaery asks. “Kind of like an adopted brother?”

Sansa licks her lips. “Well sort of. No? I don’t know. Shut up.” Margaery snickers into her tea. “My mom didn’t like him. He got into trouble all the time. He was caught smoking at thirteen years old, got Robb into fights.”

“Robb? Mr. Wouldn’t Say Shit if He Had a Mouthful? That Robb?”

Rolling her eyes, Sansa continues on.  “ _Yes,_ that Robb. You obviously do not know him very well.”

Margaery takes a delicate sip from her mug. “Never said I did.”

“Arya adored him and I think that pissed my mom off even more. She didn’t want Arya to ‘go down that path’.” Margaery scoffed. “She said that Jon would never amount to anything and probably end up in jail.”

Margaery winced. “Ouch.”

Sansa hesitated for a moment. “And Robb and Jon both overheard.”

“Jesus.”

She stretches her sore fingers around the mug, seeking the warmth. “It was just a few weeks after that that Jon’s father came and got him. Last I heard of Jon, he had been put into a boarding school.”

“So how does he play into the whole thing with your mother now?” Margaery asks.

Sansa takes another sip of tea. “He was the doctor that took care of us in the ER. He saved my mom’s life.” Margaery promptly chokes on her own sip of tea, spraying it all over Sansa’s face. “Jeez.”

Margaery wipes at her own face. “Sorry love but that is something I was definitely not expecting to hear. Your mother must have been blown away.”

“I suppose,” Sansa shrugs. She rubs her fingertip over the top of the mug. “I want to thank him.”

“Maybe the hospital will give you his address and you can send him a card?” Margaery suggests.

“No, this isn’t something I can put in a card. I want to thank him, face to face.”

Margaery nods her head towards the door, almost as to say, _what’s stopping you?_ Well other than the fact that she is a big fat chicken but –

Before she really knows what’s happening, she’s back in the bathroom brushing her teeth and trying to make her hair somewhat presentable. Margaery finds her boots and leaves them on the coffee table. “I can drive you.”

Sansa isn’t sure why that simple gesture makes tears spring to her eyes. Margaery pretends not to notice as she gives an irritated Lady a few more pats on top of the head. She’s just so tired.

-;

The ride over to the hospital is spent in silence. Sansa almost drops off again, her forehead pressed to the window. Her mother is sleeping when they arrive in her room, Bran having texted her on the way over to tell her he was going home for a few hours sleep and would come back with food for all of them.

Margaery plops herself down into the seat beside Catelyn’s bed. “Go, go. I’ll keep your mom company. She’ll be _delighted_ to see me,” she adds with a mischievous smile.

Sansa rolls her eyes but does as she’s told, leaving her jacket behind on the other chair. The trip down to the ER is quick and the receptionist behind the desk is the same woman from the other night.

“Yes Dr. Snow is working. I’ll page him for you.”

Less than a minute later, there he is, coming around the corner. He’s decked out in navy blue scrubs again, this time wearing a white jacket that is a little tight around his thick shoulders and – stop it Sansa!

His eyes settle on her and Sansa feels about three inches tall. She waves goofily and he doesn’t crack a smile. Smooth, Stark, really smooth.

“I’m going on a break. Care to join me?”

She nods. They share an even more awkwardly silent elevator ride down to the cafeteria where the redheaded cashier greets Jon cheerily. “The usual, Doc?”

“Thanks Alys. Uh, Sansa?”

Sansa shakes her head. “Nothing for me. Thank you.” They sit at a nearby table, followed by another three minutes of silence. “Okay I’m just gonna say it. Thank you.” Jon blinks in surprise. “Thank you so much for saving my mom’s life. Thank you for everything. You’re freaking amazing.”

Jon stares at her for a full sixty seconds before bursting out laughing. “Well, you’ve certainly changed.”

“You’re damn right I have,” Sansa agrees, laughing herself.

“You can thank me again when you get my bill.” When Sansa looks up, she sees Jon grinning at her.

“Still the same smartass sense of humor?”

“That definitely didn’t change.”

“How have you been?” she asks. “Where did you go after, well you know?”

Jon takes a long draft from his coffee. He’s got a beard now, which suits him, Sansa thinks. His curls are pulled back in a bun at the back of his neck and she half wonders how long his hair is now. He always had it flopping in his face when they were children, Arya used to ask how he didn’t walk into walls.

“My father enrolled me in Dragonstone boarding school. It was a...blast,” he adds and Sansa can tell that’s bullshit. “A month after I graduated, my father passed away and I enrolled in medical school.”

Sansa winces. “I’m sorry about your dad.”

“Don’t be. I met the man maybe ten times over my whole life. I didn’t go home for holidays, I stayed at the school or with my friend Sam’s family. It was Sam that inspired me to start med school.”

“What does he do now?”

“He’s a pediatric oncologist. He works here in this hospital. His wife is head nurse in the ER.”

“Did you always want to be an ER doc?” Sansa asks.

Jon shakes his head. “Not always. It was the spot I landed when I was placed and it was where I stayed. Works though, gets me home early most nights for my daughter –“ his voice breaks off.

“Daughter?” Sansa glances at his hands and doesn’t see a wedding band. “You’re married.”

“Um –“

“Sorry! I didn’t mean to be pushy, I just don’t see a ring and –“ Oh gods, now she’s babbling. Will someone just shoot her and put her out of her misery?

“I never wore a ring while working, I left it at home,” Jon tells her, his voice soft. “And uh, no I’m not married anymore. My wife passed a few months ago.”

“Oh. _Oh._ Jon, I’m so sorry.” The silence returns. “How old is your daughter?”

Jon gives her a grateful glance. “She’s six. She’s in first grade. Her name is Melina.”

“Melina...Melina Snow...” Sansa tastes the name on her lips, wondering why it seems so familiar. “Holy shit, she’s going to be in one of my classes.”

The coffee cup stalls halfway to Jon’s lips. “What?”

“I’m an art teacher,” Sansa explains. “I was just hired at Winterfell Elementary because their art teacher got married and left town. I was looking over my student rosters a couple of nights ago and she’s going to be in one of my classes.”

Jon chuckles. “She never stops talking about art. She’s really excited.”

“I’m excited to meet her,” Sansa beams. “Oh Jon, that’s so lovely.”

“Well, you’ve gotten my life story. How about yours?”

“Mine? Well uh, let’s see.” She clacks her fingernails on the table. “I’m an art teacher. I’m divorced. I live here in Boston with my border collie Lady –“

“Whoa, you’re divorced?”

Sansa nods, her fingers sliding together. She finds herself beginning to fiddle with her ring finger, with the silver band that is no longer there. “About a year now. He was a complete asshole and I was a complete idiot.”

“Oookay.”

She chuckles. “It’s fine. I’m pretty happy now. My mom was here visiting me and my brother Bran over the winter break.”

“Bran? Bran’s here?”

“Yeah,” she smiles. “He lives a few miles from here. He’s the one that got me the interview at Winterfell Elementary.”

 

“What about everyone else?”

“Robb still lives in New York. He’s doing really well too. So’s Arya. She’s getting married in the fall.”

Jon chokes on a sip of coffee. “ _Arya’s_ getting married? The girl who said she belongs to no one and no one only?”

Sansa laughs. “Her boyfriend is pretty cool. They’ve been together for six years and I think he eventually wore her down. Or she got sick of him proposing every year on her birthday and decided to mix things up by saying yes. I don’t know. She blows hot and cold most of the time. Rickon’s staying with her right now.”

When Jon asks about her father, about Ned Stark, Sansa hesitates. Eddard Stark had passed two years after Jon had left them, right in his sleep from a stroke. It had been so sudden, but thankfully very peaceful.

Didn’t make it hurt any less.

When the words leave her lips, she sees the pain settle in Jon’s eyes. Her heart tears in her chest and before she can control herself, her fingers rest on top of Jon’s hand. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know,” he whispers, biting down hard on his bottom lip.

“And how could you have known? You were a billion miles away.”

“Yeah, but _still...”_ At that moment, the pager clipped to Jon’s waist begins to go off. He tugs it up and glances at the screen. “There’s a code in the ER, I gotta go.”

“Oh! Okay, um –“ Sansa digs around in her bag and grabs his hand before he gets up, scratching down two phone numbers. “There.”

“What’s this?”

“Robb and Arya’s cell numbers. I just thought –“ she shrugs a shoulder. “They would love to hear from you.”

Jon blinks at the hastily scrawled numbers for a moment. “Thank you, Sansa.”

She gets to her feet too, pulling her bag up over her shoulder. “It was good to see you, Jon.”

“You too, Sansa.” His pager buzzes again and it is most definitely time to go. “Bye.”

And that’s it. Sansa doesn’t expect anything else as she watches the boy turned man from her past leave the cafeteria and go back to his life. A damned good life too, she notes. He had clearly proved her mother wrong.

Maybe when her mother was stronger, she would tease her about not always being right.

-;

_Bring! Bring!_

Jon almost hangs up the phone as the line begins to connect. Melina plays on the floor, her dolls strewn about as she creates a story about a princess who saves the kingdom. The princess has long scarlet hair.

“ _Robb Stark.”_

Jon hesitates for a second, feeling himself thrown back fifteen years. “Hey Robb.”

“ _Hey...who’s this?”_

“Jon.” He sounds like a frog.

“ _Jon...”_ Jon has to hold the phone away from his ear as his old friend bursts out in a stream of excited curses. “... _seven hells, how are you?”_

Jon bites back a smile. “I’m well. How are you? What have you been up to these last years?”

He listens almost eagerly as Robb launches into the story of his life. His eyes remain resting on Melina as she continues to play, babbling the stories softly to herself. Ghost pads into the living room and drops down beside Melina, patiently staying put as she abandons her story and begins to play with his soft ears.

“... _I cannot believe you called. How did you get this number?”_

“Um, your sister gave it to me. I ran into her a few days ago.”

“ _Sister...Arya?”_

Jon shakes his head. “No. Sansa.”

Whatever Robb had been drinking catches in his throat at the name and he begins to cough. “ _Sansa? Are you kidding me? Wait, are you in Boston?”_

“Yeah.”

_“So you went there after your father --?”_

“No, not quite. I lived in California when I was going to school. After my father died I came back out here.”

 _“What have you been up to since then?”_ Robb asks.

Jon tells him. He tells him about his job, about his work, about Melina. Melina turns to look at him when she hears her name, giggling when Jon sticks his tongue out and crosses his eyes. He mentions Val but doesn’t say anything else, the mere name on his lips causing the hole in his chest to burn.

“Daddy, who was that?” Melina asks when he hangs up the phone.

“That was a very old friend of Dad’s,” Jon tells her as he sets the phone down on the table. “I haven’t seen him in a long time.”

Melina cocked her head to the side. “Why do you look sad?”

Jon hitches up the corner of his mouth, attempting to plaster on what he hoped looked like a smile for his girl. He hated that he always seemed to worry her. A six year old shouldn’t be worried about anything. “I’m not sad, I’m just tired. I had a long day.”

Melina seemed to accept that and wandered off into the kitchen, Ghost dutifully trailing after her.


	3. First Day Jitters

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whose got the fluff? I GOT THE FLUFF!

.

.

“Look at you, Mom. What a good girl!”

Catelyn frowned, leaning heavily on her cane. “Sansa, I am _not_ a golden retriever.”

“Sorry.”

Her mother was up and walking for the first time in a while, her injuries taking longer to heal than expected. The doctor had informed them this morning that Catelyn should be able to go home that afternoon and Sansa had already prepared the couch for her mother’s extended stay.

She was due to start at school that following Monday and she had been up most of the weekend preparing her lessons. She was nervous as a cat for some reason and she had no idea why. For the older kids she had pulled together a short lecture about art while for the babies, they were going to immediately get their hands dirty. That was how she fell in love with art and she intended on passing that on to her students.

“Are you excited to get out of here?” Sansa asks as Catelyn settles down on the edge of the bed.

Her mother moans in delight and Sansa laughs. “More than you know, my love.”

“Just a warning, Lady is going to think you’re a new couch pillow.”

Catelyn chuckles. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

Sansa helps Catelyn get dressed and is packing up what little she has when the doctor comes in to discharge her. Her mother easily charms the doctor like usual and they’re laughing as the doctor leaves with a wave a few minutes later. “Checkout’s at noon. Good luck, ladies!”

A nurse comes in a little while later with a wheelchair and Catelyn settles herself in it. Sansa snatches up the bag that she had just packed and they go, heading out into the cool winter air.

Sansa feels a pair of eyes on her in the lobby and when she turns to see who it is, she spots  Jon standing on the stairs. At the doors, Catelyn eases herself up out of the chair to walk the rest of the way. Sansa lifts her hand and gives a small dorky wave and Jon smiles, waving back before digging his hands deep into his pockets and moving away, back up the stairs.

The drive home is spent in comfortable silence. The insurance company had given her mother a rental car until she was ready to get another, and to be perfectly honest, she had shook like a leaf the first time she drove the car. Her mother doesn’t seem to notice and begins to talk about what plans she has to make once she finally gets to go home and lamenting on how the house is probably in ruins from Rickon goofing off.

Lady’s barking is the first thing she hears when they walk up to the front door after arriving and before Sansa can even unlock the door, it’s pulled open to reveal her sister. “Arya?”

“Arya!”

Arya laughs and pushes open the screen to let them in, gently hugging their mother. “Hi Mom.”

Behind her, Sansa sees Rickon wandering from the kitchen with something that looks like a cheeseburger in his hand, Gendry not far behind. “What are you all doing here?” Sansa asks, feeling a little stupid at the ‘ _seriously?’_ look Arya shoots at her. “Rickon, have you been raiding my fridge? There’s not much in there.”

Rickon sputters and Gendry laughs, clapping the teenager on the back. “Actually, now there is. I went to the store and picked up some stuff for you because Arya said you were getting ready to start school and so I figured –“ He shrugged a shoulder and Sansa feels her heart swell.  

“Why did Arya meet you first?” she wonders with a teasing lilt to her voice, enjoying the way Gendry’s ears flush scarlet and the glower that Arya shoots her.

-;

Jon awakes with Val’s name on his lips.

With a groan, he rolls onto his side to look at the digital clock on his nightstand. Only twenty minutes past midnight. He had been asleep for just over an hour when the dreams began.

He tried to fight them but most of the time he’d wake up more exhausted then when he went to sleep. Now he welcomed them.

At least with the ghosts, he could get a little bit of rest.

Jon rose slowly out of bed and Ghost lifts his head in interest. “It’s okay, boy.” Ghost follows him anyway, out of the bedroom and across the hall, where he lightly pushes Melina’s door open and peeks inside.

His daughter sleeps on, her tiny chest rising and falling with even and peaceful breaths. Jon lets out of a breath of his own and lets his head slump against the doorframe. Ghost makes the smallest of noises and bumps Jon’s hand with his head. Jon dips his fingers into his soft fur and clucks his tongue, leading Ghost down the hallway and down stairs to the kitchen.

Once they are there, he goes to the fridge and pulls out the milk, tossing a carrot at Ghost. The dog catches the vegetable and inhales it down within a second, blinking his large eyes for more. “Did you even taste that, boy?”

He pours himself a small bowl of cereal and settles at the table, Ghost curling around his chair as he chews on the sweet flakes. Sweet and...stale. How old was this stuff? He glances at the expiration date on the box and winces. After he gets off shift tomorrow he’s going to pick Melina up and they are going to go grocery shopping.

Dumping the leftover cereal into the trash, he goes to return upstairs and finds Melina standing at the top step. “Love, what are you doing out of bed?”

Melina rubs a fist into her eyes. “You woke me up.”

Jon sighs and darts up the last few steps, scooping her right off of her feet. “Ahh, you caught me!” Melina squeals in delight, wrapping her little arms around his neck as he carries her back to her room, Ghost on his heels.

“Daddy, are you okay?” Melina asks him this as he tucks the covers back around her, silver eyes wide with concern. Jon suddenly feels like the worst father in the world. This is his job, _his duty_ to give his child everything that she needed and protect her from the terrors of the night, but as her little hand slips up to touch his cheek, he finds himself leaning into her touch. She’s taking care of him. She’s always taken care of him.

Jon starts to shake his head and quickly turns the movement into a nod. “I’m fine, sweetling. Just a little restless.”

Melina quirks a brow like she doesn’t believe him, but the brave little girl doesn’t push. She settles back down into the pillows and Ghost leaps up and stretches himself across her legs, his large head resting against her belly. “Good boy, Ghostie.” Her fingers brush against his fur. “Good boy.”

Jon pats the dog’s head and gets up, pressing his lips to Melina’s forehead. She doesn’t hear his soft, “I love you,” as she’s already back asleep. “Thanks buddy. Make sure she stays put this time, okay?”

Ghost _harrumphs_ but he knows that he understands. Jon pads quietly from the bedroom and doesn’t close the door all the way, leaving it open a crack so he can listen and in case Ghost needed to leave and wouldn’t wake her up in the process.

He doesn’t return to his room though. His feet carry him back downstairs where he wanders into the living room and flips on the television, muting the sound, and curling up on the cushions.

This practice was familiar. Ever since Val had died, those few nights that he was home, he’d sleep maybe three hours before being awoken by the nightmares. Or sometimes, their daughter’s.

The times that Melina’s screams woke him were the worst. She would sob for her mother, begging for Val to come back and save her from the monsters that plagued her dreams. With most little girls, their fathers would be their knights in shining armor, the banisher of the monsters, the saviors of the day. But not Melina Snow. Her mother, _his_ Val was that fighter. She would be the one to rush into their daughter’s room when they heard her whimpers right from the day she was born and sometimes, he would find her passed out over Melina’s crib. He’d have to rub her neck for an hour before she could hold her head up straight again.

From the night of Melina’s birth until she was about two years old, Jon was pretty sure he and Val got about three hours sleep but that was okay. They had each other.

His mind wanders to Sansa Stark.

Huh, funny. He never thought he’d see any of them again after his father took him away but here they are. Sansa lives fifteen minutes away and Robb and the others are five hours away. Quite interesting how life works like that.

Take one thing away, give another thing back.

-;

“Sansa, you’re looking a little green around the gills.”

Sansa gasped as soon as the words fell out of Arya’s mouth and the coffee she is currently holding in her hand trembles dangerously. Arya snatches it away before she dumps it on the floor and Sansa runs for the bathroom to throw up what little breakfast she had.

Arya’s waiting with a glass of water that she drinks slowly once it’s all over. “Yeah, you might say that.”

“Sorry, didn’t mean to make you hurl your Oaties there.”

Sansa sighs, taking another sip of water. “It’s fine. I don’t know why I am so nervous though.”

“First day in a new job in a new city. It was bound to happen. You’ll be fine. You’re the strongest person I know.” Arya got a funny look on her face as soon as the words left her mouth. “Man I think I need to lay down.”

Sansa laughed and lightly shoved her away as they walked back into the living room. Their mother was on the couch wrapped in blankets and Gendry kneeled next to the fireplace wrestling with the sleeping bags. They were going home today after staying the weekend, taking Rickon with them and Catelyn was going to stay another couple of days until the doctor gave her the go ahead. Despite tripping over everyone in the early mornings, Sansa appreciated having them there.

Robb had called at least three times in the last three days, enduring Arya’s teasing of what a mama’s boy he was. And then Jon called and Arya burst into tears. They hadn’t talked long, making plans for Arya to stop by the hospital for his lunch break before she and Gendry and Rickon left town.

Sansa said nothing. Now with Gendry’s help she lugged the rest of her stuff for school out to the rental car. “Thanks for everything.”

Her soon to be brother in law smiles and give her a half hug. “No problem at all.”

“Not to sound like a mother hen but make sure my mom gets her meds before you guys leave. She’s sneaky and likes to hide them because she hates medicine.”

Gendry snorts. “Gotcha.”

After hollering a goodbye inside, Sansa climbs into her car and heads down the road. She’s pretty sure she’s gonna throw up again too.

-;

“Melina finish your cereal. Davos is going to be here to pick you up in five minutes.”

“Why aren’t you taking me to school?”

Jon sighed, kneeling down so he and his daughter were eye level. He was a wee bit concerned that Melina might get her grandfather’s height and by the time she was sixteen she would tower over him and have complete power. Ah, he needs to treasure these _short_ moments. “Because I’m an idiot and put you in a school the opposite direction of the hospital?”

Melina gave him a disbelieving sniff but said nothing. Jon pecked her forehead and got to his feet to snatch his coffee up off the table. “Hey, love, I need you to do me a favor.”

“What’s that?” Melina asked through a mouthful of frosted flakes. Wait, were those the same frosted flakes he threw in the trash last night?

“You’re starting a new art class today with someone named Sansa Stark. She’s...an old friend of mine from what I was a kid.” Melina’s watching him with wide eyes. “Make her feel welcome. She might be a little nervous, so –“ He waves the hand not holding coffee.

Melina chuckled. “Sure.”

Jon sighed in relief and the front door opened. “Thanks baby girl.” Ghost started to bark as Davos rang out a hello.

“Hello all!”

“Come on in, Davos!”

The older man lumbered into the kitchen, patting Ghost on the head before leaning down to press a noisy kiss to Melina’s cheek. Melina giggled and rubbed at her face. “Your beard is itchy!”

Davos responded by giving her another kiss on the face before looking over at Jon. “What’s for breakfast?”

Jon plucked up the cereal box from the table and held up his coffee with the other. “We have old stale frosted flakes that were picked out of the garbage.” Melina’s face colored. “Or coffee.”

“You said for me to make my own breakfast!” Melina defends.

Davos laughs. “I’ll take the coffee.”

Jon sighed. “It doesn’t matter. We’re going grocery shopping later anyway. Hurry up and finish your food.”

Melina clinks her spoon back into the bowl. “Finished.”

Davos chuckled, his hand resting on the back of her chair. “Go. I got her.”

Jon sipped the last dregs of his coffee and set the mug back in the sink. He kissed Melina’s head and waved at Davos as he grabbed his jacket. “I’ll see you at three, Melina.”

“Bye Daddy!”

-;

Sansa feels like she’s going to throw up again.

Fifteen faces, some smiling, some not, gaze up at her with a mix of interest and ‘oh gods, why am I here?’

She clears her throat. “All righty, uh, my name is Sansa Stark.”

A chorus of voices ring out in response. “ _Good morning Mrs. Stark!”_

Sansa groaned and closed her eyes. “Call me Sansa. Mrs. Stark is my mother.”

A little girl seated at the far left of the room laughs out loud. Sansa’s gaze settles on her and her breath is immediately taken away. The girl is beautiful, with long dark blond hair that hung in a braid down her back, but those eyes – Jon’s eyes. This could only be Melina Snow.

When she takes attendance, Sansa’s suspicions are confirmed.

She had a fun activity planned and set the kids to work right away. “Melina, can you come up here and help me for a minute? Everyone else get your shoes and socks off.”

The kids all exchanged looks of confusion but did as they were told. Melina trotted up to Sansa and she gestured to the large roll of canvas she had sitting on her desk. “Do you want to help me roll this out on the floor?”

Melina’s smile was blindingly bright. “Sure!” Sansa does most of the work but it’s the effort that counts. Once the large canvas is laid out, Sansa turns to the rest of her barefooted charges. “Okay here’s what we’re going to do. For our first day, we are going to start what I am calling our ‘Steps Through Time’ collage. Everyone here is going to pick a color of paint and then put their footprint on the canvas along with their name.”

The kids just stare at her and it’s one of the most horrifying things she has ever faced in her life. But by the grace of the gods, Melina is the first to jump into action. “Can I go first?!”

Sansa sighs in relief when Melina heads over to the table where she had set the bottles of paint and pointed. “I like blue!” The rest of the kids fell into pattern after that and she spent the next ten minutes pouring out small dollops of paint onto paper plates. Of course, it doesn’t take too long for her classroom floor to be covered in footprints but what can you do?

Sansa watches as Melina proudly wiggles her toes in the blue paint and then place them on the canvas. A smile crosses her face when Melina giggles and gingerly steps off onto the paper towels. Sansa leans over to help another students wipe his purple colored feet off and then scrawl his name next to his footprints.

“Is that everyone? Okay so what this is going to be is, once a month, for the rest of the school year we are going to add another footprint on until the whole thing is covered. If you accomplish something that you think is pretty cool, like you go to Disney World for the first time, then come to me and we’ll add on another footprint. _Capiche?”_

Well she considered that a success. The kids left happier and more awake, albeit a little bit more dirty. Melina stayed behind to finish writing her name on the canvas. Sansa finished putting the caps on the bottles of paint, only to feel a small hand tug at her sleeve. When she looked down, Melina flashes her another of those smiles. “Do you feel welcome?”

“What?”

The little girl shrugged a shoulder. “My dad asked me to make you feel welcome.”

Sansa’s brows flew up her forehead and she almost laughed. “Oh he did, did he?” Sansa sank to her knees so they were face to face. “ _Yes,_ I do feel welcome. Do tell your dad that I have one awesome kid to thank for that.”

Melina grinned and turned to run from classroom to catch up with the rest of her classmates, her long braid swinging behind her. “Bye Miss Sansa!”

Sansa waved. “Bye Melina!”

Oh yes, she was going to be just fine.

 .

.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What finale? What finale are you all talking about? Idk about no finale. 
> 
> But... *waves my sword around* THE QUEEN IN THE NORTH! THE QUEEN IN THE NORTH! 
> 
> REVIEW IN THE NORTH! REVIEW IN THE NORTH! Wait...what?

**Author's Note:**

> Want more? Leave a review! :)


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